Australia’s Federal Government has very quietly backflipped it’s position on the construction of Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. Acting on instruction from Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, Australian government officials at the United Nations have withdrawn their nations support for an order that would have seen a halt to the expansion of any Israeli settlements in all of the occupied territories.

Under the previous – Labor Government – Australia condemned the settlements, but since the Coalition won office Australia has abstained from United Nations votes on the issue, returning Australia to the Howard-era policy of not supporting votes critical of Israel settlements. The current tight-lipped approach to implementation has seen NO information released on the governments change in Middle East policy.

In a statement released today, the Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed the policy shift, saying it reflects the Government’s concern that Middle East resolutions should be balanced. The statement says the Government considers each resolution on a case-by-case basis and will not support those which are one-sided or pre-judge the outcome of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian territories.

However, diplomats warn the fragile relationship is on rocky ground after Australia signalled it would abstain from voting at the United Nations on motions that condemn the expansion of Israeli settlements :: Read the full article »»»»

Internet search behemoth Google has recognised Palestine’s upgraded United Nations status, placing the name “Palestine” on its search engine instead of “Palestinian Territories,” the US company said, raising the ire of Israel. The domain name www.google.ps, Google’s search engine for the territories, now brings up a homepage with “Palestine” written underneath the Google logo.

In November last year the UN general assembly upgraded Palestine to the status of non-member observer state by a vote of 138 votes in favour, 9 against and 41 abstentions.

Palestinian authorities have since begun to use the “State of Palestine” in diplomatic correspondence and issued official stamps for the purpose. The google recognition took effect this week, Google spokesman Nathan Tyler said in a statement :: Read the full article »»»»

A suicide …or was it a murder? It was certainly never officially reported! UPDATE! 16 February 2013: Claims that suspected Australian Mossad operative Ben Zygier was secretly jailed before his death in prison have brought to a head years of resentment at the way Israel’s security services use court gag orders to suppress sensitive information from the media.

As the world now knows, the Prisoner X case was the subject of a court order issued in 2010 that was extreme. There was to be no public discussion, mention or hint of ‘Prisoner X’, ‘Mister X’, ‘cell number 15 in Ayalon Prison’, the conditions there or ‘anything about that cell’. The judge also ruled that any mention or hint of the very existence of the gag order was an offence.

My sources told me that it was “all hands on deck” for Mossad and Israel’s internal security service Shin Bet. Their intelligence had told them that the mainstream Israeli media would most likely grudgingly abide by the court gag order, and that the main task for censors would be to “pull down” the work of bloggers who would be posting links to our story.

It did not work out quite like that.

Minutes before the program aired in Australia on Tuesday night, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper defied authorities by posting the Foreign Correspondent promo on its website. The prime minister’s office reacted immediately :: Read the full article »»»»

Hamas & Israel officials hold secret Shalit talks in Gulf State

A Hamas spokesman has denied a report in Kuwait-based daily Al-Jarida, according to which Syria had endorsed negotiations geared at striking a prisoner exchange deal.

Senior Israeli and Hamas officials held secret meetings in one of the Gulf states in an effort to reach a prisoner-exchange agreement between the long-time enemies, Kuwait-based newspaper Al-Jarida reported on Friday. Speaking with the Palestinian news agency Ma’an on Saturday.Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha stated that the report was “completely false,” saying that Hamas’ attitude “toward negotiations with the occupation is unchanged, we still disagree with the negotiations the PLO is leading whether they are direct or indirect” Taha said, referring to recently relaunched U.S.-led peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which have since stalled.

Taha added that while Hamas supports the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, that did not mean the Islamist organization would “cede any of the 1948 territories.”

Hamas claimed at the time it acted to pre-empt a Western-bid to oust it and has ruled the enclave ever since, weathering an Israeli military assault at the end of 2008 and rigid economic sanctions tied to its refusal to recognize Israel or renounce violence.

Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar said the West should be “ashamed of supporting Israel. You cannot support the foundation of Israel. Don’t you care about the assassination of people here?” Zahar went on “We have the right to control our life according to our religion, not according to your religion. You have no religion. You are secular,” said Zahar, who is one of the group’s most influential voices. Zahars Fundamental Hatred of Israel was not at all hidden with comments like “You do not live like human beings. You do not [even] live like animals. You accept homosexuality. And now you criticize us?” he said earlier this week, speaking from his apartment building in the densely populated, Mediterranean city.